Hey, I was browsing the forum and I don't think I saw anything posted about this.

Yesterday my husband was playing Stranglehold, and the system froze.

Now, this isn't too unusual, it was a used game that we just bought so we figured that it had just happened to have a few scratches or something. He hadn't been playing it for more than 30-45 minutes, not long for any sort of game. So he shut down the system and then tried to turn it back on.

It came on with no problems, but it would no longer recognize that there was a disk in the drive.

Eventually we just took out that disk and tried re-inserting it, but with the same result. Repeated the process again with a couple different disks (blu-ray movies and PS3 games), all of which the PS3 didn't even acknowledge being in the drive. Obviously very bad news.

So we did the usual things, tried letting it rest for awhile, and when that didn't work, tried restoring default settings. Tried using a bit of compressed air to see if any dust was messing it up. Tried both quick and full reformats. Nope, didn't work.

Thus my PS3 has basically died. I'm working on getting it fixed and will eventually post how that goes. But I'm curious to see if anyone else here is having this problem.

Anyone else have their PS3 die for apparently no reason?

kerryworkman

I don't own a ps3 so I can't be much help on that front. I will say that it seems to be a reoccuring theme with the playstation line, going all the way back to the ps1. I think I went through 4 ps1's and 3 ps2's all with similar problems. Not always with disk reading problems, but for most of them it was. I feel your pain it sucks something fierce when a fairly new expensive toy breaks, especially when you already have games for it. Good luck, I hope that all goes well with the repairs. If it dosen't work, contact me, and I will let you know what I ended up doing (not soo legally) to get most of those broken ones replaced.

Fake

I hope u didnt buy it on ebay or anything. time to pull out the warranty claim

mina

I didn't get it from ebay, I got it from Target.

Figures.

But I'm sending it in for repairs... I'm really wary about it, but I don't really have much of a choice I guess.

eday2010

All the more reason to go back to cartridge games. The good old 16-bit systems had no moving parts except the power and reset buttons

QrafTee

kerryworkman wrote:

I don't own a ps3 so I can't be much help on that front. I will say that it seems to be a reoccuring theme with the playstation line, going all the way back to the ps1. I think I went through 4 ps1's and 3 ps2's all with similar problems. Not always with disk reading problems, but for most of them it was. I feel your pain it sucks something fierce when a fairly new expensive toy breaks, especially when you already have games for it. Good luck, I hope that all goes well with the repairs. If it dosen't work, contact me, and I will let you know what I ended up doing (not soo legally) to get most of those broken ones replaced.

Maybe you have bad luck, or your consoles are in a poorly-ventilated/smoking environment. I've had my PS1 since it came out (first-gen) and it still works fine... Monster Rancher, however, isn't. All my other games are in prime condition though. Each of my friends' PS2s (a mix between first-gen and second-gen) have stayed with them until they sold it or they're still working just as good as when they first bought it. Their 360s, on the other hand, have not been so fortunate; all except one of my friends had to send their units out to service at least once.

mina

From what I've heard and researched, there's always been problems with Playstation systems. A model of the PS2 (don't remember which one) would have the disk reader just stop working, and for a while Sony tried to deny that it was anything but user error. I think eventually Sony owned up to the problem, but it was still the idea that they tried to say it wasn't their fault.

I think the idea is more that you were part of the lucky group that didn't end up with those problems. Its kind of the luck of the draw I guess. The same could be said of people with the Xbox, because I have a friend that has a 360 from launch, and it still hasn't died from the red rings of death.

I think that it's just all around bad that we can't really expect these systems to have a longer life than a year and a half... after the warranty expires, then you kinda get screwed. I agree with a previous poster... the older systems didn't break down. These ones just kinda seem to give out on you.

enygmasoft

I own one and it still works great, which rules. Sadly that is the nature of the beast, since with added complexity comes less durability. The weakest link in the chain are the the disk reader, which is the heart and soul of all the post Playstation 1 systems.

blk3

I had my PS1 (the thick one) and used it for around 5 yrs before I had disc read problems and had to turn it sideways (maybe this is where they get the idea of having PS2 and PS3 upright positions). Anyway I think the life of the system depends a lot on how much you use it. even my PC has been thru 3 disc drive changes in its 6 yrs life up to now. I hope this is not a general problem with regards to the PS3, since the console is still fairly new released.

mina

blk3 wrote:

I had my PS1 (the thick one) and used it for around 5 yrs before I had disc read problems and had to turn it sideways (maybe this is where they get the idea of having PS2 and PS3 upright positions). Anyway I think the life of the system depends a lot on how much you use it. even my PC has been thru 3 disc drive changes in its 6 yrs life up to now.

The saddest thing about it was that we didn't even use the PS3 that often... we don't have many games for the thing, maybe about seven or so. We did play a few PS2 games on it (we have one of the backwards compatible systems) but even then, it didn't add up to much gameplay, considering there are probably more hardcore gamers that use their systems a lot more. It almost seemed like it just *pfft* died.

But in any case, right now I'm getting ready to send it in for the repairs... Sony is sending a box so we can ship it in, which should be here any day now. They say the whole process should take about three weeks total... so lets keep count, shall we? Especially because there's some games coming out that are being eagerly anticipated...

ddukki

I've had my Playstation for about 6 or 7 years now, and it still works like the day I got it. I guess it's just individual consoles that have problems. Also, it's a new console, so it's bound to have bugs. New, complicated technology comes with new, complicated problems.

driftingfe3s

eday2010 wrote:

All the more reason to go back to cartridge games. The good old 16-bit systems had no moving parts except the power and reset buttons

Cartridges don't hold much info that's why they aren't used anymore. Final Fantasy 7 was originally supposed to be on the Nintendo64 but Square didn't like how little space they had, so they moved to the PS1. And haven't you noticed, there are no CGI scenes on any nintendo 64 games. They are just too big to fit.

kerryworkman

QrafTee wrote:

Maybe you have bad luck, or your consoles are in a poorly-ventilated/smoking environment. I've had my PS1 since it came out (first-gen) and it still works fine... Monster Rancher, however, isn't. All my other games are in prime condition though. Each of my friends' PS2s (a mix between first-gen and second-gen) have stayed with them until they sold it or they're still working just as good as when they first bought it. Their 360s, on the other hand, have not been so fortunate; all except one of my friends had to send their units out to service at least once.

You are probably right, just bad luck. I have had other friends that have had their ps1's for years now and they still work just fine.

gmmunion

The Blu-ray dive is broken. Good thing you sent it for repairs. If you try to do it youself, god knows what could happen.

Ghengis

driftingfe3s wrote:

eday2010 wrote:

All the more reason to go back to cartridge games. The good old 16-bit systems had no moving parts except the power and reset buttons

Cartridges don't hold much info that's why they aren't used anymore. Final Fantasy 7 was originally supposed to be on the Nintendo64 but Square didn't like how little space they had, so they moved to the PS1. And haven't you noticed, there are no CGI scenes on any nintendo 64 games. They are just too big to fit.

Eday: I don't miss having to blow in my NES, put in the cart, hit the power button, pop it back out, and repeat the cycle half a dozen times before the game worked.

Drift: Sure you can't fit hours of FMV into a flash cart, but I *can* buy a microsd card (at retail!) for $10 / 2GB. The DS still uses flash, and they seem to be doing OK.

Frankly, I'd like to see more systems that run games from hard drives -- I haven't watched a DVD from the actual disc in almost a year (all are ripped to my TVersity server and streamed to my PS3/360). Why should my games be any different?

Fake

eday2010 wrote:

All the more reason to go back to cartridge games. The good old 16-bit systems had no moving parts except the power and reset buttons

LOL

arquivo

I just have a PS2, alive, at least... so a topic like this just let me afraid about buying a new PS... I wish good lucky to you fixing your PS3...

spinout

My ps3 has just 2 hangups , on 100 hours of playing. One was online with fight night and one was with the silver surfer game.

It works great for me!!! the best console contra xbox 360

Ghengis

I definitely think the PS3 has better reliability versus the 360 (thought the Wii seems to be quite sturdy too). I wish there were legal compulsions to release failure rate data, so consumers deciding which console to get would be able to evaluate whether their investment is likely to last or not, without relying on purely anecdotal evidence.

kilotun

never had that happen. but have had problems with online game updates, if its that you need to delete update and re download the updates. but that sounds like it might of messed up bad. still alot better then a XBOX 360 tho those things mess up way to much. but i been playing mine all day for a wile know and night works fine. but we run it with a fan blowing on it to make sure it don't get to hot during long periods of play. Good Luck, And Have Fun Everyone!

AK47BLAZE

you said you only played for 35 or more minitues. Put maybe before that you or your husband played longer. You need a cooler for your ps3.